I finally ordered one of these collet systems from PSI because it has more range than the collets I how have and they can be used in the wood lathe or the metal lathe .All the collets came wrapped in plastic bags and oiled and the whole set is in a red plastic box. The collet holder is threaded for 1”-8 and it has a 3/4- 16 adapter for use on a mini lathe too.I thought the best way to evaluate them was to use an indicator and check for run out with a ground pin of the nominal sizes of t...

I have often wanted to replace my 4ft- dual florescent light fixtures with LED lights but they have been too expensive everywhere- until now. The florescent ones come on real low when it is cold and the bulbs seem to burn out a lot and some of them hum.
During Menards Labor Day sale these 4’ Smart Electrician LED lights were on sale for $14.88 after rebate. I have been using them for about a week and I can’t believe the difference over the old lights. It seems like I’m in...

In my first review of this new lathe, I brought up 3 things that I felt needed improvement. One was the tailstock quill thread that was reversed, the second was the indexing was hard to read and the third was the on/off switches being flat and in different locations. Well two out of three are fixed and the third I’ll have to live with ( maybe).
The new quill and screw were installed in the tailstock but I had to relocate the key pin to the bottom so I could read the graduations that ...

I received my new Nova Galaxi DVR 1644 wood lathe from Teknatool. This is a Beta Model … one of 20 and not yet on the market.
It came assembled ( except for the legs) in one crate (525#) and was very well packed.
I installed the 66” bed on my lathe station instead of using the legs that come with it because I have the layout of everything right there. It took just 2 adapter plates on either end to mount it .
The crate warmed the barn for 2 days
This is a very fine...

I had to carve 2” off the diameter of 4 1/2” pistachio tree that was 50” long and needed something to take off a lot of material without loading up or wearing out. So I tried one of the half donut shaped carving wheels from HF that has pieces of carbide embedded in it. I usually don’t like the cutting tools or sand paper from HF, but this carving wheel is one great abrasive tool. It cut all that wood away and is still sharp enough to do it again. I hate to say that I ...

I am not a carver but sometimes a project requires some carving or shaping and I have been doing it with a Dremel 4000. Well last week that thing got real hot when using a 3/4” shaping tool that I decided I needed one of those flex shaft carvers with a small stylus in my hand instead of the big Dremel. I think this job killed the Dremel because it does not wind up to top speed any more.
So I looked at Wecheer carvers at $204 and 1/6 hp and Foredom’s at around $400 and I decide...